Many groups of people from other cultures have different viewpoints than what we have as to what makes a good smell and what makes a bad one. They also have different viewpoints as to what is offensive and what is beautiful. In Africa, many cultures see a fat woman as beautiful and a skinny one is not. Bare breasts aren't offensive among some cultures in Australia and Africa while we are offended if a nipple is exposed on tv!

The Middle Eastern cultures are in an area where water is a precious commodity. People can't very well take a 30 minute shower for granted, like we sometimes do. Their mode of dressing is designed to protect from both sun and sand, as well as to reflect their religion in many instances. They are much more exposed to animals like goats, camels, and sheep, which are rather fragrant.

Just some things to think about....

Catherine

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

The ancient city dug up by anthropologists on the main Roman road between Jerusalem and Nazareth is no ordinary find. The location of the city and the clues provided by the artifacts mean history may have to be rewritten.

After the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the Jews living there fled for their lives. At least that's what history tells us. But the shards of pottery and bits of coins found in this large ancient city of three to four acres tell a different tale. Whoever lived in this well-planned community continued to live there long after 70 A.D. Evidence shows it was likely a Jewish community, meaning they didn't all flee the area after the destruction of the Second Temple. It's long been assumed the Jews did escape the area because the Romans persecuted them and stole their property.

Why is this a Jewish village? Specifically, the discovery of stone vessels indicate Jews in the village continued to abide by the religious purity laws after 70 A.D., Debbie Sklar-Parnes, of the Israel Antiquities Authority who is overseeing the dig, told The Associated Press. Stone vessels were used because they didn't absorb liquids; that meant different materials could be stored in them without violating those religious purity laws. She says this is the first evidence that Jews lived so close to Jerusalem--just a mile or so away. The 2,000-year-old glass jewelry, stone vases and bronze coins found at the site date it to sometime between 70 A.D. and 132 A.D. before the Romans crushed a second Jewish uprising called the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

However, biblical experts doubt whether this newly-discovered village was actually inhabited by Jews. One such expert is Hebrew University historian Lee Levine who told AP, "The evidence is a little mixed." He added that the presence of wine amphorae from Italy and the absence of ritual baths cast some doubt on the Jewishness of the village. Most historians believe that observant Jews of this period did not use wine made by non-Jews, which was the case with the Italian wine. He also said that if we assume the settlement existed before the destruction of the Second Temple--and before the Jews ran for their lives--there should be ritual baths, which were tied directly to temple rituals. No such baths have been found, but only a fraction of the settlement has been excavated so they may yet be located.

Daniel Schwartz, another Hebrew University scholar, told AP it is "perfectly reasonable" that some Jews would continue to live around Jerusalem after the temple's destruction. Life would not have been easy for them, as they would have had to pay higher taxes and do manual labor for the Romans.

Because of the condition and quantity of the artifacts, it's clear to archaeologist Sklar-Parnes that the Jews fled the city very quickly around 132, probably upon receiving word of an imminent Roman attack. She also said that the settlement does not appear to have ever been inhabited again, something she found unusual.

Ever since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Jews have prayed that God will allow for the rebuilding of the Temple. This prayer is a formal part of the thrice daily Jewish prayer services, according to Wikipedia.